ATG Quirkies: A Library for Under Appreciated Literature

“In his 1971 novel, The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966, Richard Brautigan (1935-1984) described a library for manuscripts outside the interests of the commercial publishing industry, “the unwanted, the lyrical and haunted volumes of American writing.” Authors were free to place their manuscripts wherever they liked on the library’s shelves…

Inspired by Brautigan’s vision, Todd Lockwood, of Burlington, Vermont, started The Brautigan Library in 1990, encouraging submissions of unpublished manuscripts, and opening the doors to visitors interested to browse or read them. Unable to sustain operations on donations and volunteer librarians, the original Brautigan Library was closed in 2005 and its collection of manuscripts placed in storage. In 2010, the library and its contents were moved to Vancouver, Washington, where it has been curated by John Barber, faculty member of The Creative Media & Digital Culture program at Washington State University Vancouver…”